For an organisation to experience 55 consecutive quarters of growth, it takes more than just luck. It requires a strategic and well-executed plan, as well as a talented team who are aligned with the company’s vision. Red Hat must be doing something right. The software business has grown exponentially over the past decade to become the world’s leading provider of open-source solutions. Using a community-powered approach, it offers reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, application development, mobile, storage, and virtualisation technologies to its diverse customer base.
Werner Knoblich, Red Hat’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, has been with the company since May 2003, playing an integral role in its noteworthy performance. He was initially the Head of Sales for Northern Europe before being promoted to Head of Sales for all of EMEA nine months later. Following that, he was appointed General Manager in 2005, and was subsequently given full responsibility for the area’s profit and loss.
“When you look back to 2003, or our fiscal year 2004, in the EMEA region, we were doing well below US$20 million in revenue, and on a worldwide level below US$100 million,” Werner recalls. “Then in our fiscal year 2015, we got close to US$500 million in revenue for EMEA, and US$1.79 billion worldwide. So from a revenue growth perspective there has been quite a lot of development.
“The company has now delivered 55 quarters of consecutive revenue growth without a single exception. That obviously applies to the EMEA region, too, which is my responsibility. That revenue growth is really important to note, especially due to the fact there hasn’t been a single exception, not even during the recession in 2008 and 2009. You don’t get lucky 55 times in a row. You can maybe get lucky four times, five times, six times, but if you do it 55 times in a row, quarter after quarter after quarter, then that is something, I would say that we are doing right fundamentally, and our customers obviously appreciate this.”